Think of the Children for December 19

This week continues the year-end slowdown, with a paltry 33 titles getting rated. It was a pretty straightforward week though, as only the most popular and current systems had games rated. No Mac, GBA, Plug ‘N Play or Linux this week.

One title that finally was rated and may cause some comments is Black College Football Xperience (PC), rated ‘E’ for everyone. Despite what some may think the game is about, it uses the Unreal Engine 3 to bring together a football game based on the historical black college and University conferences. The game promises not only prime football action, but all the atmosphere of the halftime and stadiums that make the conferences to cool. With a five-year contract in hand, expect to see this title try to rival the big boys with yearly releases…

The true Next-Gen consoles had several titles this week, with the Xbox 360 (4) and PS3 (5) having nine total between them. The biggest hitters among the titles are Devil May Cry 4 (both), Warhawk (PS3) and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (both). Otherwise, the rest are XBLA and PSN titles (N+, PixelJunk Monsters and Go Sports SkyDiving) and DLC expansion packs (Overlord: Raising Hell). After the first of the year, I hope to see titles for the PS3 and Xbox 360 pick up as Spring 2008 releases start to get rated.

Nintendo managed to keep its juggernaut rolling one more week (although Sony is nipping at their heals) with another 13 releases. However, the amount of drivel was tempered a bit, with only Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol (barf) and a new Destroy All Human’s: Big Willy Unleashed (Why?) making their way onto the Wii. Of course, Volleyball (Wii), Dragon Quest Sword: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii) and Assassin’s Creed (DS, not sure of controls) will spice things up a bit. Throw in a couple of other Ninja games for the DS (Naruto: Ninja Destiny and Ninja Reflex) and you have a plethora of games that for once, outweigh the junk that usually gets served up to the Nintendo owners.

Glancing through the titles, they mostly appear to be previously announced, but with all the PC and Nintendo games, sometimes you can lose track. Not a bad week for some games that have catchy titles, hopefully we can start to see some surprises once the submissions to the ERB start getting cranked up in the New Year.

Here is the final tally on who, what and where everything was rated for the last two weeks. There were 33 rated entries on seven platforms. Windows PC (14), Nintendo Wii (7) and Nintendo DS (6) had the most games rated. There were 21 of the 33 games were rated at E10+ or lower, nine rated at T for Teen and three rated at M for Mature.

3rd Space Incursion

T

Windows PC

Assassin's Creed

T

Nintendo DS

Go! Sports Skydiving

E

PlayStation 3

Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack

T

Windows PC

Harvest Moon DS Cute

E

Nintendo DS

Mon Coach personnel: J' enrichis mon vocabulaire

E

Nintendo DS

Newton's Monkey Business

E

Windows PC

Shangri La 2, The Valley of Words

E

Windows PC

Volleyball

E

Wii

Warhawk

E

PSP, PlayStation 3

Winter Sports 2008

E

PlayStation 2

Apollo Justice Ace Attorney

T

Nintendo DS

Naruto: Ninja Destiny

T

Nintendo DS

PixelJunk Monsters

E

PlayStation 3

Planet Busters

E

Windows PC

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul

T

Windows PC

The Sims Carnival™ SnapCity

E

Windows PC

Devil May Cry 4

M

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Mythmakers: Trixie in Toyland

E

Wii

Obscure: The Aftermath

M

Windows PC, PlayStation 2, Wii

The Magicians Handbook - Cursed Valley

E

Windows PC

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore

E

PlayStation 2

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore

E

Wii

N+

E10+

Xbox 360

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

E

Windows PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Black College Football Xperience

E

Windows PC

Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed

T

PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and The Tower of Mirrors

T

Wii

Ford Racing Off-Road

E

Windows PC, PlayStation 2, PSP

The Sims Carnival™ BumperBlast

E

Windows PC

Operation: Hostage Rescue

M

Windows PC

Overlord- Raising Hell

T

Xbox 360

Ninja Reflex

E10+

Nintendo DS, Wii

Until next week, make sure you know what your kids are playing……

* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company for review.

About Author

I spent the greater part of my informative years glued to the front of a Commodore 64 after we wore out our Intellivision. If you were in the Toledo area surfing C-64 bulletin boards in the mid 80's, we probably have already met. When not running the BBS, I spent countless hours wandering around the streets of Skara Brae, as my life was immersed in The Bard's Tale series on the C-64. After taking the early 90's off from gaming (college years) minus the occasional Bill Walsh College Football on Sega, I was re-introduced to PC games in the mid 1990's with a couple of little games called DOOM II and Diablo. I went all-in with the current generation of consoles, getting an Xbox 360 on launch weekend as well as adding a PS3 and Wii in subsequent years.

While my byline is on many reviews, articles and countless news stories, I have a passion for and spent the last several years at GamingNexus focusing on audio & video and accessories as they relate to gaming. Having over 15 years of Home Theater consulting and sales under my belt, it is quite enjoyable to spend some of my time viewing gaming through the A/V perspective. While I haven't yet made it to one of the major gaming conventions (PAX or E3), I have represented GamingNexus at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas for the last six years.

I have been a staff member at GamingNexus since 2006 and feel lucky to have the opportunity to put to use my B.A. in Journalism from The Ohio State University.